Towing with your Ridgeline?

[Evil Sports]

I have a fairly heavy 2800 lbs 18 foot FourWinns boat. Will the Ridgeline be strained towing it.

[fredridge]

Originally Posted by Evil Sports

I have a fairly heavy 18 foot FourWinns boat. Will the Ridgeline be strained towing it.

How much is fairly heavy?

[Evil Sports]

2800lbs

[fredridge]

I am not towing with my RL, but based on numerous other posts here, you should not have any problems with that amount of weight. Others will chime in

but, there is a search button on the blue bar, use that and type in towing and you will get plenty of info.

[Evil Sports]

Did the search and not much came up about actually towing with it. If you see a good thread please post the link here

[UP N MTNS]

Originally Posted by Evil Sports

Did the search and not much came up about actually towing with it. If you see a good thread please post the link here

http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/f...ht=towing+pics

[mrlizzzard]

2800# is ok.The Ridge will tow it but begrudgingly I felt.I pulled 4000# a long ways and got just arounfd 10 mpg.I am now driving a Silverado.It has a trip computer and says I'm around 16mpg pulling and 20-22mpg without.

[25 Year Honda Owner]

The only towing I have done is a 2,000# compact tractor with FEL. Using a
16' single axle trailer. I did not even know I was towing!

[Kodiak]

Originally Posted by mrlizzzard

2800# is ok.The Ridge will tow it but begrudgingly I felt.I pulled 4000# a long ways and got just arounfd 10 mpg.I am now driving a Silverado.It has a trip computer and says I'm around 16mpg pulling and 20-22mpg without.

I have to call you out on this. I recently spent some time in a 2007 Avalanche. The best FE I could pull off was 17mpg. The cylinder deactivation never engaged unless you were decelerating. I tried multiple speeds all the way down to 55 mph and never got it engaged. Around town I was lucky to see the high side of 13mpg (not towing). Granted this is the Avalanche and not the Silverado - but they are the same engine and drive train and the Avalanche is more aerodynamic than the Silverado. I have never towed any distance with the 2007 Avalanche. The 07 Avalanche is much more stable towing than the previous generation which was a hand full. (Almost as good as a Ridgeline for stability .)

I towed a 5000 pound trailer 4000 miles with a Ridgeline. I averaged around 11 mpg pulling that trailer. The trailer drives the fuel economy due to the huge impact on the aero drag load. Driving on level ground at 65-70mph the fuel economy is the same in a Ridgeline towing the same trailer as it is in a V8 pu based on back-to-back comparisons. Remember to use premium while towing with this level of load in a Ridgeline.

The biggest difference between the a conventional pu and the Ridgeline is the fuel tank capacity. The range is better on the larger trucks. Getting 11 mpg makes for frequent fueling opportunities.

As for the hwy fuel economy in the Ridgeline, I consistently get 21-22 mpg in the summer. Of course it is less in the winter due to the fuel and air density impact. Many others have expressed a range of fuel economy which varies due to trip length, driving style and environmental impacts (as well as engine break-in).

[Kodiak]

By the way, as trailers go - boat trailers are relatively aerodynamic. They are much easier to pull than a box trailer. You will probably experience better fuel economy than what others have reported. I would expect ~13-14mpg with that size boat.